Saudi-Iranian Détente

Abstract

In June 1991, Saudi Arabia and Iran resumed diplomatic relations. Abdul Latif Abdullah Al Meymani and Mohammad Ali Hadi, a former member of parliament and Rafsanjani aide in his secret arms deals with the United States during the Iran-Iraq war, assumed their posts as ambassadors to Tehran and Riyadh. Hadi announced that Saudi Arabia and Iran were “two wings of the Muslim world,” which eased concerns in Riyadh that radical groups in Tehran might sabotage the new relationship. In June 1990, radicals barred Rafsanjani’s government from thanking the kingdom for the delivery of relief to victims of an earthquake in Zanjan; when Saudi envoy Gaafar Al Lagany reopened the Saudi embassy in Tehran the following year, they attacked Saudi diplomats.